Angels
by Rachael-Rose
Summary: Set within the Burning Like The Sun timeline. Post 'Fear Her'. Dedicated to Doctorhoovian, who kindly let me use her dream as a basis :
1. Chapter 1

"Doctor, what's going on?" Rose grasped at empty air, as the console seemed to fall out of reach, hitting the ground with a thud. His yelled reply failed to reach her over the scream of engines and the crashing that she could swear was about ready to split her head open. This was possibly the worst of all the worst landings she'd experienced, and that was saying something. TARDIS mood-swings were not a pleasant thing to be on the receiving end of.

The commotion stopped, and an eerie silence fell. Rose slowly got to her feet, ignoring the warning look the Doctor gave her from his position on the floor, still grasping the console for dear life. The ship shuddered again, and she fell to her knees, cursing as the cold metal dug into her flesh.

"Tried to warn you," said the Doctor simply, getting up cautiously. "Just when you think it's safe, the old girl has to knock you over again. Sometimes I think her entire existence depends on doing that." He patted the edge of the console affectionately before heading for the door.

They spent a few moments outside the TARDIS adjusting to their surroundings. It was dark - not blindingly so but enough to require a while standing still to get used to it. Once their eyes could cope with the twilight, they saw that they were standing in a long tunnel; grey stone, with no visible doors, that seemed to go on forever behind them and turn a corner directly in front of them.

"That's weird…" Rose was staring up at the TARDIS, gesturing to the wall around where it stood. In the side of the tunnel a niche had been cut that looked as though it had been measured to fit the ship exactly. The front jutted out just a hand's width from the wall, and the top of the niche was even shaped so that it curved around the light on the TARDIS' roof.

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver, making a few sweeping gestures with his arm as he scanned the surroundings. He studied it for a few seconds, and his face grew disturbed.

"We have to go. Now," he said, but Rose had gone ahead, around the corner into whatever lay beyond.

He followed her into an open space, hollowed out of the rock like the tunnel, but here the light of a single lamp flickered, casting strange shadows on the dark walls. In front of them were three monuments. Two appeared as ordinary gravestones, arched slabs of a granite-like rock, while that behind them was the carved figure of an angel, about as tall as the Doctor, looking up at the roof with her wings outstretched in readiness for flight. He observed the statue with growing anxiety.

"Rose, we need to get out of here."

"Why? This place is coo-" She stopped as she read out loud the inscription on one of the stones. This one had a small, carved figure of a man on top of it, whereas the other was plain. "Oh, my God…Here lies the Doctor, wonderful partner and father. Took his own life. Rests in peace at last."

Rose stumbled, unable to figure out the meaning of what she'd just read. She turned her attention to the angel, the nauseous feeling increasing as she read the inscription on this one, too.

_Rose Marion Tyler, beloved partner and mother, _

_who died to save countless others and to return this world to those who were scattered. _

_The Wolf._

_She will not be forgotten._

_Rest in peace._

She looked up and behind her at the Doctor, who had a hand over his mouth, trying to keep from being sick.

"A man in the shadow of a woman." He pondered for a moment before looking at Rose. "This is us." He reached out suddenly as Rose nearly collapsed.

"What is this place?"

He shook his head silently. "It isn't. This place doesn't exist. None of this exists."

"Loving father. Took his own life…that doesn't sound like you," commented Rose, as the Doctor led her gently back to the TARDIS.


	2. Chapter 2

Rose, stunned, threw herself onto the floor by the console and sat staring at the floor. The Doctor, appearing to ignore her, darted around pressing buttons as though his life depended on it. Eventually she heard a familiar grating noise, and they were leaving. Only then did the Doctor calm down a little and sit down next to her.

"You okay?" Rose took hold of the offered hand and moved closer. The Doctor saw she was shivering, and wrapped his jacket around her. She didn't say anything in reply, so he carried on, "It's alright. You're just shocked. I'm sorry…I didn't know we were going to end up somewhere like that."

"Never mind me. You looked scared to death."

"I was." An idea occurred to him and, taking off the jacket to wrap it around Rose, he jumped up again, playing with the screwdriver and something that looked like a round USB-type thing on the console. Seconds later, a bleep sounded, and Rose turned to watch as symbols began flashing across a screen. The Doctor's mouth fell open in disbelief.

"What is it?"

"It's impossible, that's what. Completely impossible." Rose got up to look at the symbols, but they refused to translate.

"What is it?" she repeated. "You're scaring me!"

"The walls," began the Doctor, waving a hand in the direction of the screen, as though reading the symbols out to her, "were made of a rock that's only found on one planet. One planet, in the whole universe, and it's that one, and we're buried on it…which is completely impossible!" He smacked the edge of the console with the flat of his hand and walked off, running his hands through his hair in frustration. When he turned back to Rose, he looked ready to cry.

"What do you mean, impossible? When you said that place didn't exist, what did you mean?"

"I mean, that planet doesn't exist. It hasn't existed for years and years." He flopped into the captain's chair, burying his face in hands, determined not to start crying in front of Rose.

It didn't last long.

She padded over to him, still clutching the jacket round her shoulders, and took his hands away. Placing a kiss on his forehead, she wiped tears away with her thumb and climbed up next to him.

"What's wrong? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but maybe I can help."

"You can't. Nobody can. I couldn't help them…"

"What planet were we on?"

"We weren't! _It doesn't exist_!" the Doctor yelled, more for his own benefit than Rose's.

"But it must do. We landed on it."

"It's gone. Destroyed. Dead. Disappeared, vanished out of the whole of time and space, and we can't have landed on it, because it isn't there!"

"How do you know?" The Doctor looked up at Rose, meeting her concerned gaze.

"Because I pushed the button that did it." Without a word, he got down from the seat and walked over to the console.

A few flicks later, they'd landed somewhere else, and they were walking out, and Rose didn't say anymore. There was nothing more to say.


End file.
